Sullivan is OK with using U.S. troops against citizens if Trump orders it

I would not be surprised if the Pentagon move to prepare Alaska troops to deploy to Minnesota is a ruse to cover for preparing an attack on Greenland.

Either action would be crazy, I know. And shameful.

A competent president would not be stirring the pot in Minnesota and threatening the territory of an ally.

But Trump is not competent. He is pathetic. The Republican lackeys in Congress, including Sen. Dan Sullivan, are afraid to speak the truth. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and a few others have had the political courage to call out Trump’s aberrant behavior.

Trump’s whining to the leader of Norway about the Nobel Prize and Greenland is the latest example of his diminished capacity.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, asked by Alaska’s News Source Sunday about preparing Alaska troops for Minnesota, gave a long-winded answer about his achievements and bipartisanship, ducking the subject entirely.

“I’m consistently ranked as one of the top senators in passing legislation. In fact, last year I had the most bills passed of any Senator in the Senate,” Sullivan boasted, referring to two bills that had no opposition and one resolution.

We’re all Americans on the same team, Sullivan said, though he said he is “Alaska first,” while Democrats are “Alaska last.”

To her credit, reporter Trill Gates of Alaska’s News Source asked Sullivan about Minnesota a second time. Sullivan again did not answer the question.

“What is your view on preparing Alaska troops for potential domestic deployment? And under what circumstances, if any, do you believe active duty U.S. forces should be used in domestic” situations? Grill asked.

This time Sullivan gave a long-winded spiel about how Obama tried to get rid of the unit, but “I fought that as a new senator and I won.”

“It’s a great unit. These are the kind of units because they’re so well trained and ready, they get these kind of you know warning orders for a deployment. You know the president he’s looking at this as a potential option. My view on this is what’s going on in Minnesota is that, people definitely need to stop attacking our law enforcement. You gotta let the law enforcement do their job. At the same time the civilian loss of life has been very tragic. So I’m hoping that the temperature in Minnesota can be lowered, among both sides, so the president doesn’t have to use this option.”

So Sullivan is OK with using the U.S. military against American citizens if the recipient of the FIFA peace prize thinks it’s OK.

As to Sullivan’s “both sides” blather, Trump wrote last week that he would invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job."

There is a long history in the United States that forbids the use of military troops within the country because it is a threat to personal liberty and our form of government.

Sullivan is blinded by his allegiance to Trump, acting as if this is all normal.

A loyal reader called my attention to this powerful New York Times column about Trump’s effort “to stage a spectacle of cruelty upon a city that stands in stark defiance of Trump’s dark vision of America.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.

Dermot Cole1 Comment